Here’s an article that talks about the gender differences in chimpanzees, and then has some common sense advice for humans.
Quotes from the article (I added the bold to the part that applies to CA renter, and italics to the stuff that scaredy was warning against):
I frankly think it’s OK that male and female are built differently to be good at different things,” Lonsdorf said. “I think it should be celebrated.” The danger, she added, is that “people will latch on to it and say, ‘See, women should only have babies’ ” or otherwise use it to excuse traditionalist prejudices or to exclude people from certain careers.
The opposite danger, among more progressive parents, may be to pretend that propensities don’t exist.Worse, parents may want to train or punish them out of existence, banning dolls or weapons (or dolls as weapons) from the house. The new research suggests that a better approach is to understand where boys and girls are coming from and then use those propensities, without disparaging them, as a means of helping children achieve whatever their potential happens to be.
“I think one of the great things about humans is our capacity to recognize those differences but also realize that propensity does not determine ultimate capability,” Lonsdorf said. “Yes, we’re built different, but we can all catch up if we want to. It’s a matter of education and will.”[/quote]
“Bonobos are unique in that the migratory sex, females, strongly bond with same-sex strangers later in life. In setting up an artificial sisterhood, bonobos can be said to be secondarily bonded. (Kinship bonds are said to be primary.) Although we now know HOW this happens–through the use of sexual contact and grooming–we do not yet know WHY bonobos and chimpanzees differ in this respect. The answer may lie in the different ecological environments of bonobos and chimpanzees–such as the abundance and quality of food in the forest. But it is uncertain if such explanations will suffice.
Bonobo society is, however, not only female-centered but also appears to be female-dominated. Bonobo specialists, while long suspecting such a reality, have been reluctant to make the controversial claim. But in 1992, at the 14th Congress of the International Primatological Society in Strasbourg, investigators of both captive and wild bonobos presented data that left little doubt about the issue.
Amy R. Parish of the University of California at Davis reported on food competition in identical groups (one adult male and two adult females) of chimpanzees and bonobos at the Stuttgart Zoo. Honey was provided in a “termite hill” from which it could be extracted by dipping sticks into a small hole. As soon as honey was made available, the male chimpanzee would make a charging display through the enclosure and claim everything for himself. Only when his appetite was satisfied would he let the females fish for honey.
In the bonobo group, it was the females that approached the honey first. After having engaged in some GG rubbing, they would feed together, taking turns with virtually no competition between them. The male might make as many charging displays as he wanted; the females were not intimidated and ignored the commotion.”
Though I would argue that how chimpanzees, or other animals, relate to one another doesn’t necessarily apply to humans. Our ancestral lines diverged millions of years ago, and we have evolved to become very different animals.
